Relationship between job crafting and emotional exhaustion: focusing on the difference between effects of physical and cognitive crafting

Purpose Recently, physical crafting has been found to positively affect emotional exhaustion through workload. However, the role of cognitive crafting in this process remains unexamined. To address this research gap, this study examined the relationship between cognitive crafting and emotional exhaustion, as well as whether cognitive crafting moderates the positive indirect effects of physical crafting on emotional exhaustion through workload. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through an Internet survey conducted with 2,143 Japanese employees, and path regression analysis was conducted to analyze the data. Findings The results show that cognitive crafting was negatively correlated with emotional exhaustion, weakened the relationship between workload and emotional exhaustion and weakened the indirect effects of physical crafting on emotional exhaustion. Practical implications The practical implications of these findings suggest that practitioners should encourage the improvement of cognitive crafting. Implementation of job crafting interventions and customer participation could be effective in enhancing cognitive crafting. Originality/value The study provides a deeper understanding of how cognitive crafting influences emotional exhaustion and how it influences the process through which physical crafting influences emotional exhaustion, aligning with the transactional model. The results reiterate the importance of cognitive crafting, an aspect that has received little attention since the introduction of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of job crafting.